Fresh Lumpia (Lumpiang Sariwa)

Serve lumpiang sariwa with paalat sauce on the side

Thanks to thess for the recipe.
Since my success in making choco crepes (though no success in egg roll wrapper yet), I have been looking for the opportunity to try making fresh lumpia, which means, a time for another Filipino-get-together. Our supposed lunch meeting the previous week was postponed. I actually was no longer in a mood to bring anything (and I told the hostess Fe about that, and she did not mind). But when I still had cabbage from Vengie and some more carrots from my garden (getting quite wrinkly already), plus a scan of my freezer and pantry revealed that I still had that pack of frozen ubod and a small can of water chestnut, I immediately went online to print out that recipe that I saw a long time ago.

garlicky paalat sauce

The best compliment I received was that it was very much like what they ordered in a restaurant that costed $27 each!(Did I hear it right??? Maybe it was in pesos at a PI resto. ) That's expensive! I am now thinking of making and selling this and maybe siopao to Filipinos as a sideline when I start working as a nurse in a nearby hospital that has 5 Filipino doctors, 1 PT, and 1 CNA (who have their own families, of course). I wonder how much I can reasonably price these two Pinoy goodies? Hhmmmm....Any ideas?

Since thess's recipe did not have any amount for the ingredients for the filling, I approximated (read: I did not measure, either) the proportions, and that is what I will post here. Also, I did not have the time to go to the grocery store to buy tofu and roasted peanuts, but I did have 1 small can of water chestnut (my first time to use it) and several pounds of uncooked pecan nuts, which I toasted at 200 deg F for 10 minutes then cooled before I chopped (in the chopper).

INGREDIENTS and PROCEDURE:
For the wrapper (crepes) --
2 cups flour
4 beaten eggs
4 cups water
dash of salt
2-3 tbsp melted butter
(I omitted the oil since I will be brushing the crepe maker with butter for every crepe)
Coffee filters - to place in between crepes


Mix everything well and let stand in room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Plug the crepe maker and brush with melted butter. Place the batter on the plastic pan that went with the crepe maker and stir well, then dip the crepe maker for 2-3 seconds, lift up and swirl while still upside down. Let stand upright to cook for 1-2 minutes (you will notice if the sides are beginning to get drier and start to separate from the pan; this takes practice! I wasted the first 1/4 of the batter to finally find this right technique!). Positioning the pan upside down above the coffee filter, use a silicone spatula or a wooden stirrer to start separating the edge. The crepe will smoothly fall right away. Repeat the process and place coffee filters between each crepe. (I had a layer of parchment paper at the bottom, placed on top of a wire rack to cool the crepes as I add to the stack.) You can then place this stack in a ziplock bag, squeeze out excess air, and refrigerate for up to one week.)


For the filling --

1-2 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 pound pork, sliced into bits
1/4 cup shrimp, sliced into bits
1/4 cup pre-boiled chicken meat, sliced into bits
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thinly
1 carrot, sliced thinly
1 small can water chestnut, sliced thinly
frozen ubod, thawed (I have had it in my freezer for months now, so I did not have to resort to bamboo shoots. I actually have not seen any bamboo shoots here.)

Hearts of Palm (I found this brand Melissa's available in the grocery store's produce section)

salad greens (these are not cooked with the rest of the ingredients, but placed at the bottom before putting the cooked filling; I typically use lettuce leaves)

Heat the oil. Cook the pork. Remove from pan and set aside. Sautee garlic, add chicken and shrimp and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the ubod and water chestnut, cook for a minute, then add carrots and cabbage, 1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth and let simmer for 1 minute.

UPDATE 7-25-09:
One of my readers, Toto, offered the following piece of information for those who do not have access to ubod/hearts of palm:

A little info about substitutes. I live in Norway and they don't sell Ubod here. I'm using Yellow Turnip instead. It's almost the same taste. I don't know though if you can find it outside Scandinavia but it's very common here.

Here's how it looks like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

Thanks, Toto!

For the sauce --

I had to research online for a good sauce because I had a hard time trying to imagine the proportion of the ingredients as described by thess, since she did not have amounts stated, and found one by a Filipino, which I tweaked to achieve what I imagined should be. However, as of this posting, I realized too late that there were other fresh lumpia posted a long time ago in other foodblogs: stel's and ting-aling's, which had the recipe for paalat. This is the final recipe that I like using, which I am making final for ease of prep.

INGREDIENTS:
10 cloves garlic, roasted for 5 minutes in oven toaster then peeled and mashed
 1 tbsp peanut oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup brown sugar (maybe white would be better) + 1 tbsp white sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce (maybe light would be better)
1-1/2 cups water
salt, if needed
4 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup cold water

1 clove garlic, minced (to be added after cooking the sauce)
1 cup chopped roasted pecan nuts for topping

PROCEDURE:
Mix the sugar, soy sauce, and water, and boil. Sautee the garlic in peanut oil until golden brown then add the chopped nuts and stir to cook for about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture and stir,  Add 1 tbsp white sugar, and salt as necessary. Thicken by pouring the cornstarch-water mixture in a slow stream while stirring, stopping when the desired consistency is achieved.  Mix in the chopped garlic just a few minutes before serving (they tend to turn green if left for a long time). Pour on lumpia and top with chopped peanuts (if you have fried garlic flakes, you can add those too).

To serve:
The fillings will, of course, occupy the middle part of the crepe/lumpia wrapper. Place a layer of fresh greens at the bottom (lettuce is most preferable), then the filling. You may want to add some sauce here before you fold the sides over the filling. Spoon the sauce over the lumpia, then top with chopped nuts and enjoy!